Worst Case Scenario
by Trixfan
Summary: ***CURRENTLY UNDER COMPLETE RECONSTRUCTION. WILL REAPPEAR SOON AS A NOVELLA**** Jane's note stopped Darcy's second proposal, Lydia was never found and an accident caused Mr Bennet to become lame. How is Lizzy to cope and get her HEA.
1. Chapter 1

'Lizzy,' Mrs Bennet screeched, 'the clothes have to be hung out!'

'As I well know,' Elizabeth Bennet sighed wirily.

On the way to London, Mr Bennet become lame and could no longer leave his bed. Her father now required constant attention. Half a year on from the terrible carriage accident that took her most beloved sister from this world days before her wedding to Mr Bingley and the chance of saving the their family, only Elizabeth still resided at a greatly diminished home. Longbourn had been leased to a family newly moneyed in trade and provided their only income. Kitty had married their middle son and therefore brought some respectability back to herself but had been forced to cast off her family. Mr Collins waited in the wings for his inheritance while refusing to acknowledge his cousins. Mary married Uncle Phillips son, now the Meryton town attorney. By changing her name, she avoided the fall from grace that the youngest Bennet sister brought upon their good name. Lydia had passed in child birth nine months after her loss to Mr Wickham, still unmarried to the man but living with him. Unable to claim any acquaintance with The Darcy's of Pemberley, the wicked individual had not bothered them again.

'We can no longer afford a housekeeper or cook or even more than the single maid to attend my father,' Lizzy muttered under her breath. They had let Lucy and Annabel go last month as Mr Bennet's medical bills increased. 'Mama is outraged still that we must do not only our own washing and cooking, but take more in to make ends meet. At least I will be out in the sunshine while hanging out the clothes.'

'What are we to do,' Mrs Bennet cried as her only unmarried daughter joined her in the kitchen, 'when you father dies. We will not even have the income from Longbourn. That Collin's man will take it away as soon as may be.'

Elizabeth chose to say nothing as she moved to start yet another copper boiling. The Gardiners had offered to take her in when the time came. They had not extended to invitation to Mrs Bennet believing one of her married daughters would do her duty. Mary would most likely take up the challenge but with a child of her own soon, she would be reluctant to have her mother give advice on how to raise her son or daughter.

'If only Jane had lived and married Mr Bingley,' a frustrated Mrs Bennet preferred to live in the past with her grand dreams of what might have been.

'We are lucky Papa became only lame,' Lizzy tried to get through to her mother. Even with all the trials of the last six months, Miss Bennet attempted to keep her slightly impertinent, witty demeanour. It had proved more and more difficult. Indeed life wore her down since that day she'd received Jane's note about Lydia's elopement. Until then she held dreams of becoming Mrs Darcy. However that great man had expressed his disapproval in every way possible before leaving her at the inn in Lambton. 'Should Papa have died, Kitty and Mary would not have been so well situated. Mr Collin's would have removed us from Longbourn months before we had to go and your brother in town would not have been able to take us all in. We would be in the hedgerows.'

'Had Jane, my dearest Jane lived to marry Bingley,' moaned Mrs Bennet.

Stopping the lady before she could run away with the thought, Lizzy stated in a rather cold tone, 'I prefer to see our cup half full rather than half empty. It is no use wishing for things we cannot change just as we should not wish for things we cannot have.'

With that Elizabeth Bennet removed herself from the kitchen in their small cottage. She still liked to walk. It gave time to think, however her thought these days were not so pleasant. Finding herself meandering towards the Longbourn churchyard, Lizzy easily found the family plot. Stopping before her sister's grave, she laid the wild flowers she'd collected on her ramble.

'My dearest sister,' tears appeared in her eyes as she knelt beside the grave, 'how I miss you. Even if you had lived, I doubt Mr Bingley would have allowed you to have anything to do with me while I carried the name Bennet. Lydia's foolish behaviour ruined us all. It is just as well your Mr Bingley came back to ensure Netherfield passed to a new owner and saw you in Meryton. Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were very good to have you at Gracechurch Street for the entirety of your courtship so you could escape the scandal. If I could change anything, it would be your final trip back to Longbourn to wish your family goodbye, for goodbye it surely would have been. As Mrs Bingley you would have been lost to us for every just as Kitty and Mary are now.'

'The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away,' the pastor, cautiously creeping up on the desolate young woman he'd known since childhood said in a calm, soothing tone.

'I fear he has taken more than I can willingly give,' Lizzy attempted to smile through her tears.

'When the time comes Miss Bennet, look to The Lord for your way,' Mr Michael's stated, 'for I do not believe this is all he has install for you. Right now your burdens are heaviest and your future must appear very dark. Fortunes can change. Have faith.'

'I try,' Lizzy's smile faded. 'But with each passing day, all hope becomes decreased in my estimation. I am tired.'

'You take on too much,' commented the Pastor, 'yet I know you must. You are devoted to your father and it does you credit. How well is Mr Bennet?'

'I fear he is not much longer for this world,' Elizabeth tried to keep a fresh set of tears from her eyes. 'Then I do not know what we shall do.'

It occurred a month later. Elizabeth went to the kitchen to prepare her father's tea and the concoction for his ever increasing pain. When she entered the sick room, she simply knew he was no more. Instead of the tears, the melancholy, she felt only relief quickly followed by grief at her emotions of liberation. Mrs Bennet when called did not take hysterics as Lizzy supposed. She looked at her daughter with sad eyes.

'Is this his draught?' she asked.

Nodding, Elizabeth handed it to her mother when instructed to do so silently. Taking the cup, Mrs Bennet retired to her own chamber. Fearful for her mother's mental state, Lizzy would get to that later. For now she had far too much to arrange. After sending the only maid for the apothecary, she quickly penned letters to her sisters and the Gardiners in the hopes they would be recieved.

'Please,' Lizzy requested of Mr Holden, Meryton's doctor when he finally arrived several hours later, 'will you see to my mother before going? The pastor is here and I need to speak with him in regards to my father's funeral.'

'I will see you in the parlour on my way out,' Mr Holden nodded.

He returned to the small room almost immediately. 'Miss Bennet, when did you last see your mother?'

'Not more than three hours ago, I have had much to do since coming upon my father,' she stated with a curious look on her face until she saw the two gentlemen exchanged expressions of regret. 'My mother has passed also,' Lizzy knew it. 'She took my father's elixir.'

'I believe Mrs Bennet might have added something more potent for her pain,' Mr Holden suggested.

'Miss Bennet,' Mr Michael's guided the young woman to a chair.

'All will be well,' Lizzy managed a sad smile. It took several minutes for the men to finally leave, reassured she had a maid to keep her company and help arranged the bodies. The pastor agreed to take care of the funeral arrangements as no men remained in the family or resided close enough to complete them. The cost, Elizabeth knew would almost entirely wipe out her share of her mother's five thousand pound dowry. Jane's share had gone long ago.

Mr and Mrs Bennet were laid to rest two days later. Miss Elizabeth Bennet could not attend due to her sex. Mr Phillips and his son as well as Mr Burnside and is three sons, the new tenets of Longbourn joined the Paster and Sir William Lucas as the only mourners. Even a year after Lydia's foolish elopement the Meryton community still shunned the Bennet family, even in death. Mr Collin's agreed to remain at Huntsford for another year and allow the Burnside's time to take another house in the area. Mr Bingley solved the issue by offering them Netherfield which had remained unoccupied. So, a little more than a fortnight after their funeral, Longbourn saw the removal of one family and the arrival of another.

'I am completely alone in the world,' Lizzy muttered, dressed in her traveling clothes. Everything she owned had been packed into trunks, the furniture sold and the cottage given up as she could no longer afford to keep it. Her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner had sent a man servant with their coach to retrieve the last of their nieces and remove her to London. She would not reside with them long, even if they wished it. 'I have to make my own way. Once I get to town, I shall start applying for positions for that is to be my life now. I have not the smallest hope that anyone will solicit my company when they uncover my history. I am bound for a life of servitude.'

Shortly after the second anniversary of her parents' death, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, now three and twenty, made a name for herself. Never one to dwell on the past, she had taken employment, not as the governess she supposed for that did not suit her at all, but a new boutique owned by a dispossessed French Countess able to escape the guillotine. A lively wit and slight impertinence had won Miss Bennet favour with the older ladies come to Brighton to bath in the sea. Soon the shop became highly sought by the fashionable set due mostly to the young woman's management and the Countesses eye for fashion. Dresses were delivered on time and to an exacting standard rarely found even in London.

'Miss Bennet!' exclaimed an astounded Caroline Bingley as she entered the upmarket establishment.

'Is it still Miss Bingley?' Lizzy asked with a rise of her eyebrow. Her heart shattered in two at the thoughts of the man who had owned it since that night at Pemberley and the possibility this woman had finally captured him.

'Lady Benning,' Caroline tittered. Unable to keep her good fortune in check, she stated snidely, 'I married Lord Benning two winters past. Charles has recently married my new sister, Lady Hanna.'

'I am delighted for you both,' Elizabeth kept the smile on her face. Truthfully, she wished Mr Bingley well in his future.

'Oh,' Caroline couldn't help the glee appear on her face, 'I have come for a new gown to wear to the Darcy's wedding next month.'

'Then let me show to our best salon,' Lizzy managed to keep the bile in her stomach somehow. After introducing Lady Benning to the Countess, Elizabeth called in an assistant to take over. 'I will beat this,' she mentally berated herself on the walk up the stairs to her apartment. 'I will be happy. Mr Darcy can mean nothing to me. I knew that day at Lampton I should never see him again.'

However, that day proved harder for Miss Elizabeth Bennet to bear than the rest of her misfortunes. The loss of her parents she could cope with, for they should predecease their children. The loss of her home, of Longbourn would have occurred if she'd married. Each day the loss of Jane became easier to cope with. The loss of hope, that one day she would meet again the man who had stolen her heart, devastated the young woman.

'This too,' she muttered into her tear stained pillow, 'will pass.'

* * *

I am really a HEA author. I have left this open. Perhaps if I feel in a better frame of mind as some point in the future I will offer another, happier chapter. I hate to say it but the issues here are drawn from my own life and daily struggle with a disabled parent, chronically ill child and little extra money in the budget. There are days living just becomes too hard and today is one of them. However, writing this has been cathartic. Thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

I just can't do it – leave Elizabeth in such a bad place. After writing the first chapter, I felt so much better within myself that I had to give Lizzy the same cathartic experience. So here goes, part two. This will be the all there is to this story.

* * *

'Oh sister,' Lady Benning smirked at Mrs Hurst once they were alone in the parlour of their rented townhouse, 'you will never guess who I saw today.'

'Enlighten me,' Louisa managed, slightly confused.

Mrs Hurst knew Caroline planned to go shopping at some of the most fashionable stores in Brighton. The summer nearly over, many in the first circles prepared to return to London for the remainder of their social engagements this season before retiring to their country estates. It left relatively few people to amuse Lady Benning to such an extent.

'Eliza Bennet. How she has fallen, working in a shop,' snickered Caroline. 'Then, after her youngest sister's disgrace, how could she amount to more? I shared the good news of Charles escape from a most inappropriate marriage to Jane. You should have seen her expression, learning our brother is married to the sister of a peer!'

Tittering, Louisa could only imagine the look on the young woman's face. 'How lucky have we been to escape the acquaintance with that family? Poor Charles, I do believe his heart broke for some months.'

'He is well married now,' Caroline continued to gloat, 'and Hanna is a much better prospect.'

Hesitating, Louisa asked, 'were you admitted into The Countess's presence. I am lead to believe the management is in the hands of a most discerning young woman and you must be known to be waited upon by the modesties. To have the attention of the Countesses, one must be invited into her Boutique.'

'Miss Bennet could hardly refuse the wife of Lord Benning,' Caroline sneered.

'That is where you became reacquainted with Miss Bennet,' Louisa paled. 'Do you not know, The Countess has been called to the Palace? It is said she has made a gown for the Queen. It is one of the reasons she is in such demand and can pick and choose who dresses in her gowns!'

'I heard it was the Queen's maids. One cannot believe everything that is said,' Caroline frowned, not liking the direction of this conversation. 'Miss Bennet always believed herself far above her company. She might be associating with those in our circle,' at this Lady Benning snickered, 'I am sure they will not invite her to have tea in their drawing rooms. No, Miss Eliza will enter through the servant's door as is her place in life.'

Louisa did not comment, not so sure her sister knew the power the Countess held and by default her friends. Caroline still believed Elizabeth responsible for the loss of Mr Darcy. After their summer at Pemberley when Lydia ran away with Wickham, the Bingley's had not been invited to return and she'd been forced to look elsewhere for her future. Charles benefited from his friends help after the loss of his betrothed when both men threw themselves into business. It proved profitable, increasing their worth and social standing, which, in turn, lead to Caroline Bingley's more than eligible match. Her new sister, Lady Hanna proved an ally, eventually capturing Charles bruised heart.

What Lady Benning did not know, her husband kept a mistress and had done so for many years. Indeed the only reason he had not married the woman came from her inability to bear a child. The Countess found the interview for Lady Benning's new dress amusing. After closing the shop for the day, she went above stairs to find her protégé and share her observation on her current lover's wife.

Here is must be stated that The Countess was a woman of the world. Married to Count Roux at the tender age of seventeen, she enjoyed her married life, rather more than English propriety at the time demanded. Her husband, as the French aristocracy were want to do, kept a mistress before and thought out their marriage as well as enjoying a sting of affairs and assignations. It did nothing to harm their felicity as she expected it. Indeed, as was the fashion, The Countess took a lover at the age of two and twenty when it became obvious no little Roux's would ever make an appearance. Another five years saw her flee to London with her English lover to escape a perilous end at the behest of her soon to be headless husband.

By no means a stupid woman, she packed her trunks with only the most necessary apparel to hide jewels, gold and anything else of great value to start her new life. Early in her English experience, finance by her lover, the Countess met Prince George, who had an eye for the ladies. Understanding the English nobility had the very same morals as the French only more hidden. The Countess used her charms and beauty to her best advantage. She certainly oversaw the construction of a most fashionable gown for the Queen which set her up in business and provided a very good income. However if the Queen thought the woman out of her sphere of influence, The Countesses only refused to directly challenge the woman. In the end she retired to Brighton because she fell in love for the first time in her life, in love with the seaside town. The fact Prince George often visited came as a pleasurable repine.

The Countess made the distinction of inviting only ladies she wished to know into her exclusive establishment. If she demanded a woman attend her boutique, the Lady came at the appointed hour. Information, not materials and gowns were traded in the private salon. The Countess required facts or gave advice. Either way she controlled the entire meeting and everyone present knew it. In short noting occurred in the highest spheres of society that the woman did not know or manipulate. Much of her intelligence came from the pillows of her various lovers and she knew how to use this information to best advantage.

Meeting a broken Miss Elizabeth Bennet turn into the second greatest joy of her life. Never maternal, at seven and thirty she could be the young woman's mother. Taking over the protection and education of girl, the Countess felt she found a purpose in life. Finally she had the daughter she never thought possible nor wanted. Marceline Roux intended to give Miss Bennet every opportunity in a life that had treated her abdominally.

'Lizzy,' Countess Roux called into the dark, cool apartment. She could not see the footman or maids which intrigued her intelligent mind. Going to the bell pull, she called down stairs to uncover why.

'Miss Bennet requested to be left alone,' the servant offered. 'We were dismissed until you called.'

'Please light the candles and place a fire. Ask cook to have dinner ready in one hour,' Marceline sighed. 'Until then I do not want to be disturbed.'

Understanding the time had come to uncover Miss Bennet's past, one they had barely spoken of, the Countess realised she disappeared above stairs directly upon Lady Benning's unwanted and uninvited appearance. Turning her mind back two years, Marceline remembered meeting Elizabeth. In the year preceding the introduction rumours abounded. Taking each one, the Countess discarded any which did not contain the Bingley's and their closest acquaintances. It didn't take long to remember Lady Benning's family name, nor the whispers about her brother's betrothal to a young country girl carrying the name Bennet.

'Cherie,' Marceline dropped the tone of her voice at the picture greeting her aggrieved eyes. Elizabeth lay, curled up in the foetal position on her bed. The satin pillow beneath her head stained with drying tears. Once bright eyes now dulled with remembered pain. 'Come, tell me all.'

'He is engaged and to marry next month,' Lizzy stated in a broken whisper.

The Countess could not think of any man she might mean and she knew every marriage that occurred in society. 'Who,' coming to sit on the bed and rub the girl's back, Marceline requested, 'is he?'

'Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy,' the words sounded like a croak. 'He proposed to me once. I thought he would offer again but stupid Lydia destroyed any hope.'

'Mon Cherie,' Marceline felt bereft at the waves of anguish emanating from Elizabeth, 'you must tell me all there is to know.'

'Why,' Lizzy cried, the tears she'd thought gone suddenly returned. 'It is a hopeless case. He made his opinion of me and my family's situation very clear on our last meeting.'

'Who told you Mr Darcy is to marry?' questioned the Countess, considering her vast knowledge. She rarely heard of that family. The man did not keep a mistress or lover. He came for the season only to promote his sister's coming out. All in all he appeared to be a very honourable if socially awkward man.

'Caroline Bingley,' Lizzy stated.

'Should I have known, I would not have allowed that woman within a mile of you,' furious, Marceline wondered how to get back at the obnoxious social climber. 'I will cut her immediately. When I refuse to complete her gown that will show my displeasure and exclude her from many drawing rooms once it becomes known.'

'Please do not,' Elizabeth requested, finding the energy to sit up. 'This will pass. It is not as if I thought he would call on me again. Indeed, we cannot even be acquaintances with how far I have fallen.'

'Do not be so sure about that,' The Countess smiled cunningly. 'We have much work to do. I think it is time for you to come out. Now do not say a word, Mon Cherie. You know I think of you as a daughter. I have riches enough and must leave them to someone. This Boutique is only a front so that I may play as I wish. Both the Queen and Prince Regent knew it when we met. There are few I do not know or cannot manipulate with what I know. With my patronage, you will be happily settled at Pemberley within a twelve month. But now I must hear it all, your entire story. Do not leave anything out for I must have the facts with which to fight for your reputation.'

They spoke long into the night. Retiring to bed, Marceline considered everything she had heard. Before making plans, the Countess needed information on a certain gentlemen and his family. In the meantime, Elizabeth required a new wardrobe and instruction. Smiling, Marci knew she was just the person to turn an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. Her protégé would be accepted, especially with the sum of fifty thousand pounds settled upon her. How soon the ton would forget the Bennet family connections then.

'Mrs Annesley,' Elizabeth sounded surprised as Miss Darcy's retainer entered The Countess Boutique. Her conversation with Marceline a fortnight ago finally cleared her mind of that man and any hopes she might harbour. Indeed her patron had not mentioned it again but their evening social events had increased as had Lizzy's wardrobe. Where Marci got her fabrics, lace and apparel, she refused to allow even Miss Bennet to know. She'd saved the very best for launching her protégé into society.

'Miss Bennet,' the lady greeted with a delighted smile. 'It has been some time since we last were in company.'

'Three years,' Lizzy recounted. 'How is Miss Darcy?'

'That is why I have come,' Mrs Annesley looked confused. 'Did you not know? The Countess sent an express to London last week and demanded her attendance. She is to make Miss Darcy's wedding dress. It is such an honour to be so singled out.'

'Indeed it is,' Lizzy smiled. 'Miss Darcy will make a beautiful bride.'

The frown on Mrs Annesley's face sent a shiver down Elizabeth's spine. Obviously she did not approve of Georgiana's betrothed. The girl could not be more than nineteen and out in society a year or two. It made her marriage intriguing and Lizzy wondered why the shy girl chose to marry so early.

'Miss Bennet,' one of the seamstresses exited from the back of the shop at that moment and approached cautiously. 'The Countess requests your attendance in her private salon.'

'Thank you,' Lizzy couldn't help think this a set up. Nor would she put it past Marci to engineer the meeting. When the woman wanted her way, she went to great lengths to achieve it. 'Will you accompany me, Mrs Annesley?'

Together the two women entered the private parlour. Georgiana stood on a stool before a mirror, white silk covering her chest. Only the wealthiest could afford to contemplate such a colour for a wedding. The hem would be covered in dirt and the gown unfit for wearing again. Many had to reuse their dress, albeit with different trimmings.

'Miss Bennet!' Georgiana exclaimed coolly while the colour drained from her face.

Elizabeth knew the young woman had not expected to see her. It proved Marci had a reason for generating this meeting. In fact, Lizzy had not overcome her shock at the sudden and unexpected meeting. She could only curtsey in response.

'Cherie,' Marceline smiled brightly, indicating her protégé should approach and take the drawing in her hand, 'I need your opinion on this design for Miss Darcy's gown. White is becoming fashionable but I think it too stark against her complexion.'

'I have only been in company with Miss Darcy twice and that was many years ago,' Lizzy answered easily, her courage rising to the occasion. 'I seem to remember Miss Darcy preferring pastels of blue or yellow.'

If possible, Georgiana's colour decreased further. Mrs Annesley went to her immediately and drew her down off the stool. Sitting on a chair, the young woman finally looked Elizabeth in the eye. Hatred seemed to fill her expression.

'Please leave us,' Miss Darcy demanded of the other ladies. 'There is something I wish to discuss with Miss Bennet.'

As the Countess and Mrs Annesley departed, Lizzy noticed a smile on the face of the first and concern on the second. After the way Miss Darcy's companion reacted to speaking of her charges wedding, Elizabeth wondered at the connection. Continuing to stand, she waited for Georgiana to start. When the young woman continued to glare at her, Lizzy felt the situation impossible.

'Miss Darcy,' she started, watching for the slightest change in the girl's demeanour, 'I cannot claim a close acquaintance with you. However you seem disposed to dislike me.'

'Who that knows what you have done can blame me,' she declared before breaking into wracking sobs.

'Please,' Lizzy allowed an eyebrow to arch, 'tell me what it is that I you have to accuse me of?'

'You have denied, most forcefully, my brother's suit twice,' she looked up with tear stained eyes. With each word Miss Darcy's voice became stronger and more aggrieved. 'You have left behind you a broken man who refuses to consider marriage.' Rising from the seat, Georgiana approached Lizzy. 'Noting can persuade him to choose a wife if only for the continuation of Pemberley.'

'Excuse me,' anger now laced Lizzy's tone, wondering how she could lay this at her feet.

'Do you have any idea how long my brother searched the back streets of London for your fallen sister? Then when he found her heavy with child and abandoned, Fitzwilliam arranged for a situation far from prying eyes so she might raise the child in obscurity. He did all this for you Miss Bennet, even informing your father of her passing in childbirth and attempting to save your reputation,' Georgiana stated, her face openly displaying her fury. 'It has been left to me, the last of the Darcy's to marry and produce an heir whether or not it is my wish.'

Suddenly Elizabeth Bennet did see. Mrs Annesley's expressions made sense as did this outburst. On unsteady legs, Lizzy found a chair and flopped into it.

'Georgiana,' she started in a soft voice so the girl had to strain to hear. Using her Christian name embarrassed Miss Darcy but stopped her anger from building further. 'Please take a seat and let me explain something to you. I expected your brother's suit the day I found out about my sister's infamous elopement. Had we more time before that event, I would have gladly accepted his second attempt at securing my hand. However Mr Darcy made his feeling abundantly clear. You brother could not be out of my sight quickly enough once he learnt of my families disgrace.'

'Do you not see,' exclaimed Georgiana, 'you who know the whole of the history with that man? Fitzwilliam left that very day. He spent months in London, searching in vain to patch up your sister's reputation so he might take you as his wife. He came back to Pemberley dejected and I could not rest until I knew why.'

'What is done cannot be undone, Miss Darcy,' Lizzy pursed her lips. So many thoughts ran through her head it began to spin. 'Tell me this, do you love the man you are marrying?'

'I do not,' Georgiana confessed attempting to keep her stoic expression. She appeared so much like her brother in that moment when he stepped into the Assembly rooms at Meryton all those years ago. It indicated to Elizabeth how many dreams she had forgone for the sake of honour and duty.

'Have you been forced into this arrangement,' Lizzy continued.

'Pemberley needs an heir,' the girl suddenly did not seem so young as her posture changed. 'I am the only one able to accomplish that.'

'Perhaps,' Elizabeth suggested in an ironic tone, 'your brother has become full of pride once again. Why else would he allow you to marry without felicity when he will not enter into the marriage state because he refuses to find a woman to love.'

'How else,' a red faced Georgiana stood and demanded, 'am I to secure a future for Pemberley?' Pivoting, Miss Darcy closed her eyes and willed the tears not to continue. Her feelings were so mixed. Taking in a long, steading breath, she turned back to Miss Bennet. 'Tell me, do you love him still? If Fitzwilliam came here, dispensed with his pride, would you accept him?'

Unable to keep the rapid beating in her heart silent, Elizabeth's mind screamed, 'yes.' The word came out as along hiss.

For the first time in what seemed an age, Miss Darcy found herself smiling. 'We will be at the opening night of Royal Brighton Theatre on Thursday. Expect us to call for you and the Countess at seven thirty. And please inform your patroness that her offer of a wedding dress will no longer be necessary.'

'Georgiana,' Lizzy warned with both her tone and expression.

'You are as miserable as my brother,' she stated. 'Do not try to hide it. I look forward to the day you become my sister, if only so I may regain my brother. Until Thursday Miss Bennet.'

Utterly shocked, Elizabeth sat in the salon for twenty minutes before her mind calmed enough to begin considering all that Georgiana had imparted. When the Countess came in, she took one look and escorted Lizzy up stairs. Calling for the maid to watch her, she returned to finish her day. Lady Benning was due for a first fitting on her gown. Marceline would delight in expressing her inability to accept such a commission.

On Thursday, the Countess almost doubled over at the same woman's response to seeing Miss Bennet in the Darcy box. Both individuals stiff and unyielding, little more could be hoped for on this first very public meeting. However, with the aid of Miss Darcy, every opportunity was exploited to bring the pair together and rekindle their love for each other over the next six weeks. It appeared they at least tolerated each other's presence with equanimity.

'More must be done,' Marci commented to Miss Darcy as August waned and they prepared to leave.

'I have invited Elizabeth to Pemberley,' Georgiana confessed, 'but she has refused.'

'How would you feel should I be one of the party?' the Countess had the manipulative glint in her eye. 'I am sure the modesty can cope with the regular clientele for a month or two while I take Elizabeth on a well-earned holiday.'

The middle of September found Lizzy and Marci arriving at Pemberley. Initially furious, Elizabeth Bennet found herself walking the trails surrounding the house at every opportunity. Mr Darcy, of a like mind and disposition often noticed her and the paths she took while out riding. The heady mix of past dreams, longing and unrequited love soon broke down the barriers between them. As Pemberley proved a balm for them last time, it did so once again.

'Miss Bennet,' Darcy approached her on the last evening before leaving. His pride once again conquered and her prejudices overcome, they had discussed the last years at length and decided on sharing an equal blame. Working up the courage, he beseeched the woman at his side, 'I beg you stay. I cannot lose you again. It would shred the remainder of my heart beyond hope of repair. Release me from this misery and consent to be my wife.'

'I had hoped, that is,' Elizabeth found herself tongue tied and blushing furiously. He waited impatiently for her response. Finally looking up into his eyes, she saw the despair matching her own. She did not want to leave any more than Darcy wished her to go. 'Yes,' she whispered from a throat barely able to make a sound.

'I confess,' he now looked away, 'I hoped for this outcome. Yesterday, I rode to Derby and purchased a special licence in the hope we would be wed this very day.'

'You are leaving it to the very last moment, my dearest Fitzwilliam,' Elizabeth found her impertinence and used it to greatest advantage.

'I regretted the last time more than you can ever imagine and had no intention of letting you get away again,' he confessed. 'Come, I will call for the pastor of the Pemberley parish.'

'No doubt he is awaiting your summons,' she smiled, keeping the joy at bay. The last years had been filled with so much darkness and despair, Elizabeth could not believe her good fortune. Indeed she found it almost impossible to express.

'As are the Countess and my sister,' Darcy agreed. 'I will not be happy until the ceremony is finished and you are Elizabeth Bennet no more.'

And so it was, a love story that surmounted trials, society and death finally ended with a most unexpected happily ever after. If you asked any of the Darcy's six children, they would dispute that. Their mother, being of a social, lively disposition often tormented their quiet, stoic father. He on the other hand would not give into her smiles and wit. But then life is never perfect.

As Mrs Darcy was often heard to state, 'it is the trials we face that build our character. Your father and I have had more than our fair share but not more than we could cope with. Love, my beautiful children, can conquer almost anything.'

* * *

I hope I managed to pull off a very credible HEA. Maybe one day I'll expand this into a full story. Until then let me know what you think.


End file.
